Another Quebec Gov’t Fail: Protects Anticosti from Frack harms, But not already methane contaminated Gaspé *and* Gives $8.4 Million taxpayer money to Junex Inc, private junior oil company under guise of “investment”

QUEBEC INJECTED $ 8.4 MILLION IN AN OIL EXPLORATION PROJECT IN THE GASPÉ by magictr, August 4, 2017, Sherbrook Times

QUEBEC – Ressources Québec, a subsidiary of Investissement Québec, will invest $ 8.4 million in the project of oil and gas exploration of Galt, in the Gaspé region, has announced the company Junex, on Friday.

Ressources Québec will act as agent in this investment, which means that the decision has been taken by the ministry of Economy.

The investment of Resources in Quebec represents about 60% of the anticipated expenditure for the purposes of an exploration campaign of $14 million.

“We are pleased with this new partnership, which will take a crucial step for the production of a first deposit of oil and natural gas in Quebec,” stated president and chief executive officer of the Company, Jean-Yves Lavoie, by issuing a press release.

Commercial viability is “uncertain”

An independent evaluation carried out in 2015 and has prepared its best estimate of the amount of recoverable oil on the property of Galt, near Gaspé, to 23,000 barrels of qualified proven and probable reserves. [But most will not be recoverable, even with fracking and refracking]

Approximately 8.1 million barrels have also been qualified of “petroleum resources potential recoverable before risk”, while 71.4 million barrels have been defined as “resources of oil in the promising front risks”.

“For resource discoveries, the commercial viability of the operation of any portion of the resources is uncertain,”, has, however, said the Company in its press release.

Recall that the Quebec government has recently closed the door to oil and gas development on the island of Anticosti, in the estuary of the St. Lawrence, in order to “protect and conserve the natural character outstanding” of the place. [Emphasis added]

Refer also to:

2017 07 28: Quebec government puts end to oil & gas exploration on Anticosti Island

2017 06 29: Gaspé, Québec: Plusieurs puits abandonnées fuient encore; Several abandoned energy wells still leaking; Natural Resources Ministry handing out permits for more drilling instead of fixing the life threatening problems

2016 09 18: Did Petrolia intend to frac all along? After publicly promising for years it would not, Petrolia now says it’s planning to “artificially stimulate” Haldimand oil wells in Gaspé. “Town council cannot accept fracking near homes, near water wells,” Mayor Daniel Côté said.

2016 09 02: Trying to lure investors while frac’ers go bankrupt at record rates? Junex Says Galt Well in Quebec’s Forillon Formation Delivering “Historic Results.”

2015 12 14: Fracking provides few benefits to Quebec, environmental review says

The benefits of shale gas development in Quebec may not be worth the risks, the province’s environmental assessment agency concluded in a report released Monday.

The Bureau des audiences publique sur l’environnement, BAPE, determined there is scant evidence to support the oil and gas lobby’s claim that hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as “fracking,” would be advantageous for Quebec.

… The report found that fracking could have “major impacts” on nearby communities, from polluting the air to increasing traffic and noise. Even with “rigorous attenuation measures,” fracking would still cause a “range of annoyances” for residents hundreds of metres from a work site, the BAPE said.

For example, the process can release acrid odours that are strong enough to cause complaints 600 metres from the fracking platform, the environmental review said.

It said the work could also generate enough noise to disturb people living up to four kilometres away.

[Encana has been arrogantly knowingly violating Ernst’s legal right to quiet enjoyment of her home and land since 2003, maliciously enabled by the Charter-violating AER.

Abuses of Ernst by Encana and the AER now also maliciously enabled by all 9 Supreme Court of Canada justices in their civil rights decimating ruling in Ernst vs AER? ]

“The activities of the industry could engender consequences for the quality of the environment, particularly on the quality of surface and underground water,” the document said.

Based on a cost-benefit analysis, using projections for the price of natural gas for the next 25 years, the BAPE observed, “the exploitation of shale gas in the St. Lawrence Lowlands would not be profitable for the industry.”

Even if gas prices bounced back, “it hasn’t been shown that the financial advantages for Quebec would be sufficiently important to compensate for the costs and externalities for society and the environment,” the report said.

The BAPE found that shale gas development could increase Quebec’s greenhouse gas emissions by three to 23.2 per cent.

Each horizontal well could require up to 4,000 round trips by truck, increasing the risks of accidents and speeding up the deterioration of roads, the report added.

The environmental review was sent to Environment Minister David Heurtel to inform new regulations on the industry, which are expected to be tabled next fall.

After participating in the BAPE’s public hearings on shale gas development, Jacques Tétrault of the anti-fracking coalition of citizens’ groups called the Regroupement vigilance hydrocarbures du Québec welcomed the agency’s final report. “It shows the voice of citizens have been heard,” he said. “I think the quantity and quality of briefs presented to the commission showed that our worries were more than just perception. They were well founded.

“I hope it will change the government’s policy,” he noted, “but it wouldn’t be the first time that a government has taken a report and swept it under the rug.”

The Quebec Oil and Gas Association said Monday afternoon that they needed more time to review the 540-page report before issuing a statement.

In light of the environmental assessment agency’s findings, the opposition Parti Québécois said the government has no choice but to abandon shale gas exploration. “For us the answer is clear: shale gas would distance us from our goal of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. The Liberals must finally listen to the population and say no to shale gas,” said the party’s point person on natural resources, Marie-Victorin MNA Bernard Drainville.

Quebec imposed a ban on fracking in 2011 pending the results of environmental studies, including the BAPE assessment. [Emphasis added]

2015 04 21: Thermogenic methane contaminating Gaspé drinking water near Petrolia’s methane leaking oil well; Citizens ask municipal representatives to take back Petrolia’s Permits

2015 03 01: Borrowed Dreams? Promises of regulations led Gaspé to drop lawsuit with Petrolia. Junex dares to dream of oil in Québec; penny stock soared 209% recently, lifted shares of peers Petrolia and Petrolympcs while $200 Billion debt looms over USA oil and gas

2015 02 02 Petrolia must immediately stop drilling in Gaspé translation by Amie du Richelieu of joint Press Release by citizens and groups RVHQ, Eau Secours and AQLPA

Saint-Dominique, February 2 2015 – Groups and citizens’ committees are behind the committee Ensemble pour l’avenir durable du Grand Gaspé and the Gaspé population whose drinking water is threatened, and demand an immediate stop to oil exploration drilling made by the Petrolia company in Gaspé. The president of said company made the announcement a few weeks ago that the drilling of Haldimand #4 well was completed. Now the company wants to get a completion permit by the Environment Ministry. One must remember that back in 2011, similar permits were given to Petrolia to let it do injectivity tests for oil. The population is afraid drinking water could be contaminated because this is going on at only 350 meters from a housing development where there are more than 400 private (drinking water) wells.

Even though Petrolia says it will not be necessary to fracture because there are already many fractures in the ground, the drilling will facilitate the movement of hydrocarbons up to the surface and the air and water contamination. The latest BAPE report on shale gas covering the St. Lawrence Valley mentioned that the accepted distance of 400 meters under an aquifer from a horizontal borehole made to do fracking is not enough. In this case, because of the fractures already present, even without fracking, this distance is insufficient. The fact that the vertical drilling was deviated at 420 meters under the surface lets us believe that the majority of the horizontal drilling will be done within the secure zone of 1,000 meters usually practiced by the industry. Up to now, no distance is considered safe for drilling qualified as conventional. In an underground geology already naturally very fissured, this kind of activity is done at high risk for the water table in this sector. Are the safety standards that are not adequate to protect the population of the St. Lawrence Valley enough for the Gaspé population?

A study done by the company Savaria clearly demonstrated the presence of thermogenic methane in many observation wells in the sector after the first drilling operations. The possible risks are clearly stated if more drilling is done in this already vulnerable sector. The bosses of Petrolia, and the Energy and Natural Resources Minister, and the Environment and Sustainable development Minister have received a copy of this study a few months ago already. The Quebec government is then very aware that it has just put at risk the water of a part of the town of Gaspé population.

This situation is unacceptable and we are asking the government immediate action to have all work stopped at this location.

Signed:

Jacques Tétreault, general coordinator and spokesperson for RVHQ

Martine Chatelain, president, Eau Secours

André Bélisle, president, AQLPA

2017 02 20: “Alberta Model” Quebec’s Frac Frenzy Free-for-all Deregulation Bill 106: Vue en coupe d’un règlement qui nous prend pour des idiots

2016 12 22: Big Oil Shouldn’t Celebrate Quebec’s Flawed Energy Bill Just Yet

2016 12 10: The real reason for Quebec’s Frac Bill 106: Questerre Energy shares soar after Quebec passes Bill 106

2016 10 09: Emergency preparedness is goal of Quebec earthquake road show, Or because Quebec gov’t broke its promise, created Bill 106 to enable fracing in Quebec? First Nations communities in Gaspé unite against fracking, First Nations leaders threaten legal action over Petrolia drilling

2016 09 18: Did Petrolia intend to frac all along? After publicly promising for years it would not, Petrolia now says it’s planning to “artificially stimulate” Haldimand oil wells in Gaspé. “Town council cannot accept fracking near homes, near water wells,” Mayor Daniel Côté said

2016 09 045: Anticosti fracking could cause earthquakes, says Maurice Lamontagne, Geological Survey of Canada seismologist; U.S. Midwest, Alberta, British Columbia enduring earthquakes due to ‘human activity’

2016 08 23: Anticosti mayor applying for UNESCO heritage designation. Court orders Quebec to continue financing Petrolia’s Anticosti fracking operations, Orders monthly payments to Petrolia must continue to prevent job losses

2016 06 17: “A New Step Forward!” Quebec introduces draconian oil & gas bill to give companies more rights than property owners, Days later authorizes Petrolia Inc to frack Anticosti: “This resounding success on the regulatory front is essentially due to the work of Petrolia, accompanied by the experts at SNC-Lavalin….”

2015 06 04: The Most Over-the-Top-Biased Frac Panel Yet? QUÉBEC Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources sold itself to the Devil. Check out this list! Check it twice!

2014 12 16: Quebec’s Premier Declares Province-wide Shale Gas Ban after Environmental Review Board (BAPE) says Fracking Not Worth The Risk, “Too many negative consequences to the environment and society…risks to air and water quality…noise and light pollution”

Same vile trick NDP Rachel Notley is using in Alberta? Allow oil fracking while fooling the public with urban shale gas fracking bans?

2014 03 28: Methane contamination found in Gaspé water wells near Petrolia’s methane leaking oil well; Is the Quebec government deflecting the explosive risk to protect the oil and gas industry?

2014 03 07: Unanimous Decision! Municipal Council of the City of Gaspé appeals the court decision not allowing regulation to protect drinking water from the harm caused by hydraulic fracturing

2014 03 04: Government finds methane in drinking water wells in Gaspé, water wells are within 2 km of Pétrolia’s oil wells, one of them reported in 2012 to be leaking methane

2014 03 01: CUPE calls for full drinking water protection in the Gaspésie Peninsula [Industry can’t profit ‘n frack if there are drinking water protections, thus why governments around the world deregulate like mad when fracking invades communities and give millions of taxpayer funds in freebies/subsidies to the frackers]

2014 02 13: Gaspé wants Quebec government to intervene; The Quebec Superior Court agrees with Petrolia, says Gaspé municipality can’t protect its drinking water supplies from the oil and gas industry

2014 01 11: Gaspé, Quebec passes water law to stop oil drilling near its wells and homes

2013 04 25: Petrolia asks Quebec Superior Court to rule on Gaspé drilling ban put in place to protect groundwater, Do decisions of municipal councils outweigh drilling rights?

2011 02 01: Access to justice becoming a privilege of the rich, judge warns [Since when did ordinary civil Canadians ever have the privilege of access to justice?]

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada:

“We have wonderful justice for corporations and for the wealthy.”

Chief Justice McLachlin said that a court proceeding can easily swallow up a litigant’s bank account or home equity. 

“How can there be public confidence in a system of justice that shuts people out; that does not give them access?” she asked. “That’s a very dangerous road to follow.”

[And yet Chief Justice McLachlin enabled and published Justice Rosalie Abella’s lie in the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in Ernst vs AER and repeated the lie in the court’s summary of the case, and distributed it in their press release, while not repeating McLachlin and three other justice’s concerns with the lie in their ruling. By only distributing Abella’s lie to the media, and not the four justices’ opposing view of it, the court defamed Ernst. Cadillac “justice” for the Charter-violating AER. Slick.

Is there access to justice for civil Canadians who do sacrifice their entire savings and decades of their life trying to seek justice for drinking water contamination by Encana and Charter violations by the lying, fraudulent, cover-up energy “regulator” extraodinaire, the AER, meeting nothing but road block after expensive road block by judge after judge after judge? ]

… Chief Justice McLachlin said that denying citizens access to courtrooms can endanger democracy. [But, denying Ernst access is exactly what the Supreme Court of Canada, under CJ McLachlin’s leadership, did, by denying Ernst’s guaranteed Charter right to seek remedy for rights violations by the AER, and defaming her, as a slap in the face bonus.]

“On a macro level, access to justice promotes social stability,” she said. … “We can draft the best rules in the world and we can render the best decisions, but if people can’t have access to our body of law to resolve their own legal difficulties, it is for naught,” she said. [Intentional system set up by politicians, judges, lawyers and protect-their-own law societies?  To ensure that ordinary civil Canadians do not have access to justice?]

Echoing a recurring theme, Chief Justice McLachlin said there is little data on how many middle-class litigants have been driven away by the high cost of civil justice. However, she said that U.S. studies have found that up to two-thirds of middle-income individuals with legal needs do not approach a lawyer because of the cost.

[It is becoming more and more clear that Canada’s legal system was set up intentionally to be unbiased, prevent fairness and to make sure ordinary citizens do not have access to court rooms. Rulings increasingly provide proof of this stark fact. Sadly though, most people – even those concerned – do not read court rulings. It’s no wonder, with how incoherently most judges write (intentional?). 

Canada’s “system” is also becoming (also intentional?) more and more complicated to make the galling lack of access for ordinary civil citizens more and more inaccessible. ]

2013 05 19: Protection of water and drilling: the regulation would not apply for Gaspé

2014 08 01: Governments across Canada failing to protect drinking water; Government betrays Ristigouche and 70 other Quebec municipalities that put bylaws into place to protect drinking water; Gastem attacks Ristigouche with $1.5 Million Lawsuit

2013 09 25: La CRÉ dénonce Gastem, calls lawsuit against the small community terrorism, case to be argued on November 18, 2013

2013 02 13: CEO of Gastem says ecology activists are fascists and states that ‘nobody’ in Alberta complains about drilling wells, Le pdg de Gastem qualifie les militants écologistes de “fascistes”

2012 09 20: Quebec to seek ban on shale gas fracking: Minister

Quebec’s new Natural Resources Minister, Martine Ouellet, has made up her mind. Even though she is ordering a new independent inquiry into shale gas exploration and exploitation, she would ban the industry and its controversial hydraulic fracturing outright.

“I don’t see the day when these technologies can be used in a safe way,” said Ms. Ouellet, as she walked to her first cabinet meeting Thursday in Quebec City. [Emphasis added]

Oil patch CEO? Canadian Politician? Canadian Justice?

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